


En Bethléem, Étant Tous Réunis

by bookwyrrm



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Christmas, post-sequel: the gang's back together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27843541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookwyrrm/pseuds/bookwyrrm
Summary: After everything settles, Nile and Booker have a conversation.
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Nile Freeman
Comments: 3
Kudos: 38





	En Bethléem, Étant Tous Réunis

**Author's Note:**

> I did not expect to come out of the movie loving Nile and Booker's relationship as much as I did. But the father/weird uncle/older brother dynamic really captured my heart, so have this short fic. 
> 
> Title comes from the carol "Noël Nouvelet"

Nile was trying to think of a suitable excuse that would stop Nicky from forcing her to take a third portion of dessert when she heard the screen door slide open as Booker slipped out. After stealing a glance into the kitchen to check that the others hadn’t noticed, she followed him. 

Their journey had landed them in Ukraine, and it was bracingly cold outside. Deep bells, tolling out fragments of a hymn, could be heard from the church a few blocks down. Booker was standing on the porch, looking over the dark lawn. 

“Quynh says it’s going well,” he said as Nile came to stand beside him. 

“Quynh knows how to use a phone?” Nile asked, surprised. 

“Andy does.” 

Nile nodded. After Quynh had tried to kill Andy in a fit of rage and Booker had almost died himself while trying to stop her, the team had agreed that he had done enough penance for the time being. Now, Quynh and Andy were off in some tiny cabin in the woods “learning how to be people again,” in Nicky’s words. (“Together,” Joe had added, and Nicky raised his eyebrows enough of a fraction of an inch for Nile to understand their meaning.) 

Booker was staring up at the sky, his face somber. “Christmas was Céline’s favorite time of year.” 

Nile looked at him so quickly she felt a muscle twitch in her neck. She had never heard Booker mention his late wife before. 

He smirked at her as if he had read her thoughts. “Quynh says I should start talking about my feelings instead of drinking them.” 

She hid a smile into the collar of her jacket. “Christmas was a special time in my house, too. We didn’t have any big parties like some people do, but it was a time for being around family.” 

“You miss them.” 

“Of course I do.” Nile shrugged, not wanting her sorrow to upset her friend. Her family, after all, was still alive. Even if she couldn’t talk to them, she could stalk them on Facebook and pretend the space next to her brother in the group photo had been left for her. “What was she like? Your wife.” 

Booker smiled sadly. “She was wonderful. An optimist, but stubborn as hell when she got angry. She used to drag us all to midnight mass. The boys and I complained about it, but we went and sang along to all her favorite carols just to make her happy. Young Sebastian, Olivier, and Jean-Pierre.” 

He said the names of his children like a long-recited mantra, as though he were afraid that if he didn’t say them in that order, he would forget them. 

“It wasn’t so bad then, the depression and the drinking. I was better back then -- I _forced_ myself to be better. For them.” 

Nile asked softly, “What happened?” 

“While I was in the army, Céline was pregnant with our fourth child. We had always wanted a daughter.” He glanced at Nile out of the corner of his eye. “But there was a complication with the pregnancy. I was in Russia fighting for Napoleon when the letter came. That’s when I met the others for the first time -- Nicky and Joe and Andy.” 

They let the weight of his words hang in the air between them. Booker ducked his head down and cleared his throat. 

“My momma was baptized in a river,” Nile said, suddenly wanting to offer something of herself up in return for his story. “She’s a born-again Christian, but her church was undergoing repairs at the time. They told her she would have to wait to do it, so she walked outside and told them that she was ready and the Lord was ready if they were.”

Booker grinned, “Is that why--?” 

“Yeah.” She pointed to herself. “Nile. And my little brother’s name is Jordan.” 

He chuckled. “Thanks, Nile. And thanks for fighting for me.”

She nudged him with her elbow because it seemed like something that Andy would do and Booker suddenly looked like he needed the comfort of his oldest friend. “Hey. Anytime, old man.” 

It began to snow. 

  
  



End file.
